From Denim to Disgrace: How Fantasy, Sex, and Power Keep America Looking Away
“The bluest eye in the world. And it belongs to a little Black girl.”
— Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye
Pecola Breedlove never got blue eyes. She got madness instead. What Morrison offered us wasn’t a fantasy. It was a warning.
In America, sex is a currency, and fantasy sets the exchange rate. We pretend to be shocked by what we see, yet we created the market, packaged the product, and wrote the script.
After hearing about the new American Eagle Outfitters Fall 2025 denim campaign featuring Sydney Sweeney, I was struck by the amount of outrage. Every other swipe brought up this woman wearing jeans. The implications were hidden in the actress’s words. Titled “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans,” the campaign showcases Sweeney, the 27-year-old star. Sweeney claims she has “good jeans,” and we’re meant to understand this not only through her blue eyes but also through her revealing top, her thin alluring figure, and the overt sexuality of the presentation.
The outrage surrounding the commercial centered on what many perceived as a veiled eugenics message: that goodness equates to being white, blue-eyed, and blonde. I didn’t share the same reaction as many in my community. Instead, I was more troubled by the suggestion that life becomes easier if you simply buy the right pair of jeans from American Eagle Outfitters. The double entendre of blue eyes plus blue jeans equals good genes was clear. However, what concerned me even more was the persistent framing of beauty around a specific body thin type. And we all know that’s cap.
Morrison warned us what happens when a society teaches a little Black girl that blue eyes equal love. Sydney Sweeney’s campaign is not just about jeans. It is about the fantasy America keeps selling. One where beauty, goodness, and power all come wrapped in thin white frames and light eyes. Pecola wanted the bluest eyes in the world. Now we’ve packaged them, filtered them, and are selling them back to the masses—for $69.95 a pair.
In many African nations, fuller figures have long symbolized beauty, wealth, comfort, and status. A full-figured woman was seen as well-fed and well-kept. The United States is now embracing this trend, packaging beauty in fuller figures and selling it to the highest bidder. These are the new genes sold by plastic surgeons in surgery centers.
The American Eagle Outfitters campaign is trying to dig up old images of yesterday and cast them into algorithms, all for profit. It is the old adage: sex sells in blue jeans. This narrative is not new. It is an old one, repackaged as a modern ideal. It contradicts today’s cultural norms.
What I find interesting, and perhaps a brilliant marketing strategy, is that even bad press becomes good press if it keeps you relevant. American Eagle Outfitters launched their campaign in just the right climate to get their name circulating in the culture, even if they are quietly pushing a lie. I will say it clearly: it is a brilliant marketing strategy. People are clicking and commenting. Heck, I’m writing a blog about it. But there is a reason. I have a purpose.
It is no coincidence that American Eagle is entering this conversation at a time when discussions about sex are becoming more open, particularly when people are asking who might be on Epstein’s so-called list.
While mainstream media remains hyper-focused on Epstein, Trump decided to release the MLK files. I was initially upset until I heard what was in the documents. The files revealed nothing new about Dr. King’s infidelity, a fact already widely known. The release caused no real damage and served only as entertainment while more important issues remained hidden.
If an Epstein list exists, it would likely expose many powerful individuals—those high-level executives hiding the dirty little secrets of what’s been done to individuals with blue eyes in blue jeans… and others with different genes. That might explain why Biden didn’t release the list either. After all, he’s been called a pedophile himself.
Maybe Epstein was killed because he wasn’t getting a pardon—and the people in power feared what he might say.
They say he hanged himself.
If the media says so, then it must be true… right?
As much as I hate to admit it, I don’t care much about who is on the Epstein list or whether it even exists. It is no secret that many people, in both public and private spaces, have engaged in sexual exploitation. Some use sex to climb social or professional ladders. Others pursue relationships for money, power, or access. Many individuals sell more than love. The real story is not the list. It is our refusal to acknowledge how deeply sex and power are entangled. That dynamic shows up everywhere—from the halls of Congress to a 30-second denim commercial.
Calling this entire conversation a distraction is not an exaggeration. It perfectly reflects the petty, polarized back-and-forth that keeps America stuck. While the left continues to cry about Epstein, the right sells sex and “sexy” by turning Sydney Sweeney into a campaign charm.
The Democrats are struggling to hold things together. They are losing funding and facing internal division within both Congress and the DNC. The recent fallout between the DNC Chair and the Vice Chair, who resigned after threatening to primary sitting members of Congress, makes that division clear.
Congress now faces a triple divide: socialists, centrists, and so-called moderate progressives. Instead of working together, they are battling for control over a fractured cultural identity. What they are discovering about the party is a complete lack of ideas, experience, and cohesion. The party has no clear vision, so it leans on recycled headlines like the Epstein story to distract from Trump’s growing momentum.
Just like that, a campaign ad slips in with the old “Make America Great Again” undertone, and the conversation about accountability is drowned out by a white woman in jeans. It’s subtle. It’s slick.
I understand what’s happening.
The real concern is this: in America, sex is used to get ahead or to control others. We sell it in every form and then pretend we are upholding moral values. We perform outrage when women report sexual assault, but at the same time, we build entire industries around exploitation. Strip clubs on the outskirts of cities are treated as harmless, yet they power much of the business world’s after-hours economy.
The world was shocked when a CEO was caught on camera at a Coldplay concert with a woman from his company. They both looked at ease, smiling, as if it were just another night. For some women, that’s how it works. They go along with the game until the deal goes bad. After one, two, or three failed encounters, the story flips and they become the victim. This is mainstream now. And it has spread across cultures.
Sydney Sweeney in the American Eagle commercial is following a familiar script. She offers sex through the idea of “good genes.” She represents a type that many men believe sells more than intelligence or capability. Buyers of the past only wished they could. Today’s buyers count their coins. And as for the jeans, plenty are lining up to buy them. It doesn’t even matter what color the jeans are anymore. Black or blue, it’s about the fantasy stitched into every seam.
There is no illusion here—power can absolutely be purchased if you look the part. And good genes come in all colors. America continues to place desire above dignity. We celebrate the illusion of control while losing our grip on everything that truly matters.
What’s truly sad to me is watching the video itself—the way the camera scans across the young woman’s body, the way she arches her back and buttons the jeans. It brings to mind the same kind of exploitation tied to Epstein’s list. The public gets the names of the powerful men. But the names of those who sold their souls are never mentioned. Nameless, faceless individuals. Women like Sydney Sweeney.
I had never walked into an American Eagle Outfitters store. I never had much interest in the brand. Aesthetically, it’s not for me. But after some research what surprised me, was Jennifer Foyle, the Executive Creative Director, a self-proclaimed champion of women’s causes, would approve such a campaign. All proceeds from the Sweeney collection are reportedly going to a women’s crisis center, and yet no one seems to see the irony. They’re selling the very imagery that drives women to crisis centers in the first place.
And this is the American way. We condemn Epstein after the fact—after the documentaries, after the suicides, after the cover-ups. But before that, we indulged the culture that made him possible. We celebrate the fantasy, package the innocence, and profit off the performance. Then we act shocked when the fantasy gets out of hand.
We consume the performance, condemn the predator, and forget the pattern. Epstein wasn’t the glitch. He was the blueprint.
I don’t believe the marketing manager at American Eagle Outfitters cared about the message. They were selling an image to young girls and boys—profit over principle. Propaganda at its finest.
My final thought? I believe Sydney Sweeney comes from good jeans—just like I believe onyx, hazel, and every other eye color come from good genes and wear blue jeans. I just hope that letting herself be used as the face of “good jeans” doesn’t land her on one of those new lists.
If I were her mother, I’d protect her—and tell her to put on a shirt, and a bra, and sit down somewhere.
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© 2025 Jacqueline Session Ausby. All rights reserved. This post and all original content published under DahTruth are the intellectual property of Jacqueline Session Ausby. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the author.
